True Conversion

"A convert is a "precious person. He or she will make a tremendous decision in coming into the Church. Retention will primarily be the work of the local wards and branches. However, you have a very, very important part in this. Your missionaries must be sure that conversion is real, that it is life-changing, that it is something that is to last forever and go on through generations...There is no point in baptizing people if they do not become solid members of the Church."  President Gordon B. Hinckley, LDS Church News, Saturday, July 4, 1998

“There is a difference between a convert who is built on the rock of Christ through the Book of Mormon and stays hold of the iron rod, and one who is not.  I promise you that you will have more and better converts in every mission of the Church if you will teach and inspire missionaries to effectively use the Book of Mormon as the great converter.”  Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986.

President Faust stated that two principles would lead to conversions of people in any country: "First, the powerful bearing of testimony and, second, being guided by the whisperings of the Holy Spirit."  President James E. Faust, LDS Church News, Saturday, June 26, 1999

"For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation of the ungodly."  D&C 136:33

People are not converted when they feel the Spirit alone, any more than all people are good because all have a conscience and come into this world with the light of Christ.  True conversion comes only when we act in accordance with the Spirit.  The Spirit is manifest not only to justify the righteous, but to condemn the ungodly.  While conversion cannot occur without the Spirit, the fact that a person feels the Spirit and may demonstrate recognition of this does not mean that the person has been converted - simply that the Spirit is testifying to the truth of the missionaries' words.  Whether the person choses to consistently act in accordance with this witness is another matter.

Individuals do not become converted simply by sitting through the discussions or by knowing the missionaries for a certain amount of time.  Two investigators may sit through the same discussions and feel the same Spirit, but one may be converted and the other may not.  True conversion comes from the heart -- from deeply personal choices and actions consistent with the manifestations of the Spirit.   Investigators are not converted simply by making promises to keep commitments.  The process of conversion does not take hold in any significant degree until the investigators actually begin the process of consistently keeping commandments.

Missionaries should be aware of the dangers of setting a firm baptismal date early on.  One cannot put a deadline on repentance.  A several week period may be adequate for some people, while others may require much longer.  Just because the time has past and the discussions have been given does not mean that true repentance or conversion has occurred.

In the face of the mounting inactivity and low retention among converts in many areas, it is unreasonable to try to take people from the first discussion through baptism in one or two weeks.  Change comes in steps, and even though a more lengthy period before baptism may give people more time to establish righteous habits and truly repent, it does not guarantee conversion.  However, teaching over a more reasonable time period during which true commitment can be developed and assessed and problem areas identified and rectified certainly contributes to true conversion.  The relapse rate into sin, inactivity, and former lifestyles is extremely high (up to 90% in some missions) when missionaries push for baptism in very short periods of two to three weeks or less.

"And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but few who were converted unto the Lord; but as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and Spirit of God, which was in Jesus Christ..."  3 Nephi 7:21

Remember that Satan is the one who wanted to force every soul to be saved.  In the true gospel, we acknowledge the blessing of free agency, along with the attendant sorrow that comes when free agency is exercised unrighteously.

It is absolutely crucial that missionaries ensure that every soul brought to baptism is truly converted as demonstrated through penitence, personal testimony, and the establishment of rightous habits, including consistent church attendance and daily scripture reading.  While missionaries who focus on these areas through their honesty and following the spirit may at times not have large numbers of immediate baptisms, those who are baptized.are much more likely to remain active and continue to grow in the gospel.  As missionaries use the Spirit and focus on commitments, the real growth of the Church becomes much greater than when these points are neglected.

Occasionally, missionaries seek to increase their successes by baptising people who give them the answers they want to hear but are not keeping all of the commitments, thinking that the fulfillment of additional commitments will come later once the individuals are baptized. This practice almost inevitably leads to mounting inactivity.  Missionaries must be free to exercise discernment and honest judgment as to what degree of conversion their investigators are actually experiencing without having their judgment clouded by self-imposed artificials deadlines.

The Lord himself tells us the requirements for entry into the celestial kingdom:

"And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit another kingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom.  For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory."   D&C 88:21-22

We (and our investigators) become sanctified, not simply by talking about or expressing acceptance of the law, but by living it.  No one is authorized to take away from the Lord's requirements for baptism, which are nothing less than true repentance and complete conversion.  We cannot "widen the gates of heaven" by "lowering the bar."  One of the greatest disservices which can be done to investigators and to members is to teach them that the requirements for eternal life are something lower than what they actually are.  God's laws are eternal and his requirements fixed.  If an individual does not live according to the law of the celestial kingdom, he or she cannot receive eternal life, regardless of how the missionaries may have minimized or skimmed over commitments.  We must do our part to teach the full and true conditions of salvation.  Otherwise, the sins of our investigators will be on our own heads (Jacob 1:19).
 

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